The new pace has not been altogether disadvantageous. Swedes have taken the time to interest themselves more in the quality of life and to subject the issue of nuclear energy to thorough scrutiny.

The total number of hours worked in Sweden declined from 1.33 billion in 1970 to 1.25 billion in 1980. The main reason for the drop is longer vacations. But other forms of leaves have also increased: Swedish law gives you paid leaves not only for your own sickness but also for the sickness of your children; fathers as well as mothers are entitled to leaves to care for the newborn, paid leaves are granted for study, for union work, and for about a score of other causes. Vacation may by law be accumulated into sabbaticals. People employed in the public sector (34% of labour force) are automatically granted leaves of absence to work at higher-level jobs than the ones for which they are contracted.

Such ample vacations and other leaves that the labour movements has fought for are today by many Swedes regarded as self-evident rights. In the course of a generation many have come to perceive work less as a mainstay in their lives which, however onerous, must be endured to bring bread to the table, and more as an interlude between periods of leisure that provides the wherewithal to enjoy that leisure.

Yet, more people work in paid employment than ever before. The number of jobs increased by nearly 400.000 in the 1970s while the working-age population remained stationary.